Baker County juror dated murder defendant's son

Lawyer plans to ask judge to nullify verdict; a new trial is possible.

After jurors convicted a Baker County woman two weeks ago of murdering her husband, witnesses noticed one leaving the courtroom hand-in-hand with the defendant's son.

Turns out they'd dated in 2003 and "met back up" after Meloney Lee Jackson was arrested for murder in March 2008, the son told her attorney. None of that information was disclosed before Amanda Daniels of Macclenny was picked for the jury, despite questioning about potential conflicts of interest.

On Friday, Circuit Judge James Nilon, along with prosecutors and Jackson's public defender, interviewed Daniels privately to determine what she knew and disclosed to her fellow jurors about the case. Details weren't released.

But after the interview, Nilon gave Assistant Public Defender George Nelson until June 19 to file a motion to set aside the verdict and scheduled a hearing July 20. Nelson said he plans to ask Nilon to set aside the verdict.

Jurors took about two hours May 16 to find Jackson, 41, guilty of first-degree murder. They rejected her claim that she shot Kevin Jackson, 47, in self-defense at their Glen St. Mary home the day before their divorce was to be final.

According to coverage of her trial by The Baker County Press, two of her children gave damaging testimony against her at trial. Her oldest son, James Wallace, didn't testify.

Five to 10 minutes after the verdict, Daniels returned to the courtroom and left holding hands with Wallace, State Attorney's Office investigator Mike McCombs said in a memo filed in court. He said a sheriff's deputy noticed, too, and another deputy told him about a statement Jackson made as she was escorted back to jail.

" 'There was a girl on the jury that my son broke her heart and now today, she has broken his heart,' " Jackson said, according to the memo.

Spencer Mann, spokesman for the Gainesville-based State Attorney's Office, said Friday the office felt an obligation to tell Jackson's public defender what McCombs witnessed. Beyond that, he said, prosecutors don't have a position on what should happen next.

"It's up to the defense and the judge," Mann said.

Nelson said in court he interviewed Wallace and his grandmother, with whom Wallace lives. He said Wallace told him he dated Daniels six years ago, met up with her eight or nine months ago and that they are just friends. Wallace also told Nelson he never spoke with Daniels about his mother, according to court documents.

But Nelson said Jackson's mother told him Daniels has been to her house to visit Wallace and spent the night with him eight or nine months ago. Jackson's mother, Lila Evans, also was questioned by Nilon and the lawyers Friday.

Nilon has several options. He could order a new trial, admonish or hold Daniels in contempt of court or determine no action is necessary.

Jackson hasn't been sentenced but faces a mandatory life sentence. She remains at the Baker County jail.

Crayola, this happened in the courtroom, for crying out loud! If you want to place blame, you'd better focus on the state attorney or the public defender. The sheriff's office had nothing to do with jury selection.

If you are in a place where you know everyone and the case is high profile and you cant get a fair trial. You will probably ask for a change of venue. LOL That counts for small towns as well.

SwingingRichard: You make a good point. If i am the prosecutor, I am wondering why this was not brought up in jury selection or Voi Dire. You wait until the end of the trial to bring this up? I will be very interested to see how this is handled on appeal. My guess is that if the verdict is held by the trial judge, on appeal it will be remanded.

IF PEOPLE THOUGHT BEFORE THEY SPOKE, THIS WORLD WOULD BE A DULL AND QUIET PLACE!!

20 points

crayolaphd

Saturday, May 30, 2009 @ 12:47 pm

No one should be surprised by this latest screw up in good old boy central. The Baker County deputies and their fearless leader Joey Dobson, are much to busy chasing tail, to bother with a little thing like letting the prosecutor know about the defendant's sons relationship with the juror. After all who would expect them to do something so simple as to compile a complete list of anyone directly related to Mrs. Jackson and her family. Really there are some 26,000 people in the county and most of them are related to the deputies, so how could they possibly miss knowing about the connection unless they were preoccupied with more important matters (ie: hunting, fishing and chasing tail).

IF PEOPLE THOUGHT BEFORE THEY SPOKE, THIS WORLD WOULD BE A DULL AND QUIET PLACE!!